Technical Field
The technology disclosed herein relates to a bicycle hub assembly.
Background Information
A bicycle wheel typically includes a bicycle hub assembly. The bicycle hub assembly is located in the center of the bicycle wheel.
A conventional bicycle hub assembly (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,791 B2) includes a hub axle (10), a hub body (11), a bearing unit (13), and a lock member (15, 17). The hub axle (10) is mounted to a bicycle frame. The hub body (11) is rotatably supported around the hub axle (10) via the bearing unit (13). The bearing unit (13) is disposed between the hub axle (10) and the hub body (11).
The bearing unit (13) includes an outer race, an inner race (32) and a plurality of rolling members. The outer race is mounted to an inner peripheral surface of the hub body (11). The inner race (32) is disposed inside the hub body (11) in a radial direction and is threadably mounted to an outer peripheral surface of the hub axle (10). The plurality of rolling members are disposed between the outer race and the inner race (32).
The lock member (15, 17) prevents the inner race (32) from rotating and retaining with respect to the hub axle. The lock member includes a rotation stopper (15) and a retaining member (17). The rotation stopper (15) has a plurality of inner splines to engage with a plurality of outer splines of the inner race (32) and is non-rotatably mounted to the hub axle. The retaining member (17) is mounted to an end of the hub axle (10) and retains the rotation stopper (15) with respect to the hub axle (10) in an axial direction.
In the above bicycle hub assembly, it is difficult to finely adjust an axial position of the inner race (32) on the hub axle (10), because fineness of adjustment about an axial position of the inner race (32) on the hub axle (10) depends on the total number of the inner splines of the rotation stopper (15) and the total number of the outer splines of the inner race (32).
In consideration of the problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bicycle hub assembly capable of finely adjusting an axial position of an inner race on a hub axle.